


tears for fears

by scumfuck



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 04:17:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13473519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scumfuck/pseuds/scumfuck
Summary: "Y-you ok-kay, Eddie?" Bill asked, a look of sentiment painted over his face.Nothing hurt, but Eddie was ready to cry. He was going to respond, when Richie kicked in."Of course not! He's gonna cry!" he cackled again, and pressed his glasses up. "You can't fight, Eds! I bet you can't even punch!"





	tears for fears

**Author's Note:**

> Richie being an annoying first grader when he first meets Eddie! Stupid drabble, I was inspired by a tumblr post.
> 
>  
> 
> tumblr: @adrianmelllon

**FALL OF 1982**

Eddie Kaspbrak wasn't one for making friends. While he did make do with his own mother's company and the safety of his bed, moving to Derry meant a new life. Even if that new life was for a seven-year-old.

It was a crisp fall day when Eddie's first grade teacher had pushed him out of the school during recess. "You can't stay in here for the rest of the year, Eddie," Ms. Grave had pointed out with a stern look on her wrinkled features. "Go outside and get some fresh air."

Eddie was going to backtrack and debate that his mother would have wanted him to stay inside ("I have allergies-- I could get sick!"), but was shut up as the old woman opened the door to the playground and pushed him out to the cool air.

Eddie immediately shivered in his polo shirt, and looked around the playground momentarily. He hadn't made many acquaintances since moving to Maine, so he wasn't sure where to start. There were girls playing hopscotch and jump-rope on the asphalt. A large group of boys older than him were in the middle of a soccer game on the field. There were kindergartners laughing and climbing on the jungle gyms and play-sets. Eddie huffed. He went to sit on one of the benches that surrounded the exterior of the playground.

That's when he spotted a group of trees some ways across the soccer field. Behind it were three boys his age, but Eddie could barely see them. They were secluded from the rest of the playground. He bit his lip, glanced at the rest of the kids - who, mind you, had absolutely no intention of including Eddie in their games - and decided to check them out.

His legs trembled as he walked up to their hidden territory; leaves crunched under his pristine white tennis shoes, and his hands rubbed together subconsciously. One of the boys shot up immediately at his presence. Eddie guessed he was surprised to have someone find him.

"Hi," Eddie said, and looked down to his feet. "I'm Eddie."

The boy standing blinked behind coke bottle glasses too big for his face, and his eyes squinted a bit, as if trying to find something. Another boy, who looked taller than Eddie, stood as well. He stretched out his hand, smiled with missing teeth, and introduced himself. "I'm b-buh-Billy!" he exclaimed, and grinned wider when Eddie tentatively shook it. Then, he pointed to a kid sitting against one of the trees. His nose was stuck in a rather thick book for a first-grader, and he had curly hair that framed his face neatly. "That's Stanley." Stanley waved without looking up from the page he was on.

Glasses-kid stood proudly in front of Eddie, his chest puffed out, and proclaimed, "And I, am _the_ Richard Tozier, the boy of many voices! Pleasure to be of your acquaintance, Sir Edward!" in a fake British accent. He bent down and bowed in front of Eddie. Eddie laughed a little, and Billy smiled too.

"You can call him Richie."

Richie pushed his glasses farther up his slender nose before grinning at Eddie. (Eddie noticed he had missing teeth, too. He suddenly started to feel conscious of the fact that he still had all his baby teeth himself.) "Hey, Eds, we were just gonna wrestle before you came! Wanna play?" he proposed. Eddie's eyes grew.

He'd never wrestled before-- he didn't know it was a game, either. The only thing that Eddie knew about fighting was in Looney Toons cartoons, when the coyote constantly got hurt trying to catch the roadrunner. He wasn't sure if that was the same thing, but he was certain he'd end up as hurt as the coyote if he tried.

"Uh, I dunno," he murmured in reply. Bill tried to compromise.

"W-we don't ha-hafta! If you d-don't want t-t-to. Stan has a d-deck of c-cards we c-can play wi-with."

Richie rolled his eyes. "Bore-ring!" he wailed. "I don't wanna play with stupid cards!" Then he turned to Eddie again and cocked his head. "You ever wrestled, Eddie?" he questioned, a sort of sneer on his face.

Eddie blinked at him. "Sure, I've wrestled before," he scoffed, trying his best to impress the loudmouth in front of him. "My dad teaches me, all the time!" Eddie winced at the last statement, at the lie he told through his teeth.

Richie almost dropped his smile, but kept it on. "Hows about you teach _me_? I wanna see what you can do, Eds!"

His eyes must've widened half the size of the sun, god damnit, because he couldn't believe what he'd gotten into. "Y-yeah! Alright. And, don't call me Eds, please, my name's Eddie."

Richie nodded, sneered again, and moved to the patch of grass where there weren't as many sticks and leaves piled up. Then he got into an unusual position Eddie had never seen before; his legs were spread, knees bent, and his arms were out in front of him. Eddie tried to copy the stance, and his hands were already starting to sweat.

"Bill, will you count us in?" Richie called out over his shoulder, his high voice penetrating Eddie's ear. Billy nodded, stepped in, gave Eddie a concerned eye before counting.

"One, t-two, th-three, go!"

And that's when Richie lunged at Eddie. In the blink of an eye, Eddie was pushed to the grass, his yellow polo scraping against the cool ground. Eddie tried to push back, tried to slide Richie off of him, but Richie's knee was lodged in between both of Eddie's, and his elbows pinned him down to the grass. He was trapped. Richie laughed loudly at his own success and at Eddie's failure.

"Three, two, one! Ha! You were pinned!" Richie climbed off and patted himself on the back, before leaning forward to pull Eddie back to his feet.

"Y-you ok-kay, Eddie?" Bill asked, a look of sentiment painted over his face. Nothing hurt, but Eddie was ready to cry. He was going to respond, when Richie kicked in.

"Of course not! He's gonna cry!" he cackled again, and pressed his glasses up. "You can't fight, Eds! I bet you can't even punch!"

Eddie felt heat rise up to his face, and his ears grew red with anger and humiliation. "I can too punch!" He protested. His hands balled up into tight fists, so hard that he could feel his neatly trimmed nails almost puncture crescents into his palm. Richie didn't quit.

"Can not!" He fought back, sticking out his tongue. Billy tried to step in and stop the two, but to no avail.

"Can too!"

"Can not!"

"Can too!"

"Can no-"

And that's when Eddie swung. His fist whipped in front of him so fast, and made immediate contact with the boy's nose- he was almost certain he heard a crack.

Everything went silent. Even Stanley had looked up from his book at the lack of noise. Eddie was shocked. He couldn't even comprehend what he had just done. Richie's eyes bugged out of his glasses, and he stood dumbfounded for a moment before bringing his hand up to a bloody nose.

"You.... You punched me!" Richie stated. He didn't seem angry however, just surprised. Bill and Stan watched, stunned.

Eddie's mouth fell open. "Oh my goodness!" He rushed up to Richie, placed his hand over the other boy's, which was still clutching his nose. "I'm... I am so sorry, oh my god!" He tilted Rich's head back slightly with a gentle hand, just as his mother had done to him when he got nosebleeds. Except this wasn't just your run-of-the-mill nosebleed.

"Dude... I think you broke my nose!" Richie squinted down at Eddie as blood trickled over his lips.

"W-we'll g-get th-the n-nurse," Billy stuttered out, and Stan nodded, the two running towards the school.

Eddie wished he had a tissue, or something, he could use to stunt the flow of blood escaping Richie's nostrils. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Eddie repeated a million times, as he guided the boy up to the school.

...

Eddie stood in the principal's office, hands clasped behind him. Richie was seated in a chair with an ice pack practically strapped to his face. Eddie felt overwhelmingly guilty. The principal looked tired, uninterested, and stressed as he started to lecture the small boy.

"Mr. Kaspbrak, I'm sure you know that what you've done is not very nice, correct?" He massaged his forehead. _Well, duh,_ Eddie thought.

"Yes, sir," Eddie replied anxiously. He stared holes into his own shoes, not wanting to make eye contact with the man.

"Edward, if you could please apologize to Richard, it would be greatly appreciated," he explained. Eddie nodded, and turned to the curly haired boy still sitting in the chair. His face was screwed up, eyes squinted again.

"Wait, what?!" Richie called out and quickly stood up, but the nurse pushed him down into his seat again as to not let his nose bleed any further. He continued, "He proved me wrong! He doesn't hafta say sorry!"

"Mr. Tozier, he broke your nose. I think you deserve an apology."

Richie shook his head vigorously, and the nurse smacked him again. He mumbled a sorry but his round eyes never looked away from the principal.

"You're sure?"

"'Course I am!" Richie returned enthusiastically. Eddie looked at the boy, who gave him a toothy smile. Eddie smiled back.

He glanced outside of the principal's window, and spotted his mother's car driving towards the front of the elementary school. The principal swiveled in his chair and waved at the children, signalling that he was done with them, that they could leave.

The nurse gave Richie last instructions on how to treat his broken nose, and afterwards ran to catch up with Eddie in the hallway. The school was completely silent, the only noise faintly coming from the still in-session recess outside. Eddie blithely wondered what Stan and Bill thought of him after all of this.

"Hey, Eds, you're pretty cool. Y'know that?" Richie grinned. Eddie felt his ears heat again.

"Thanks," he said, "You're cooler. I mean, you're the one who knows how to wrestle." And Eddie thought about the lie he told about his father. Richie seemed to as well.

He waved it away. "It's whatever. I learned from watching boxing. Muhammad Ali, y'know? Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!" He mimicked the boxer and giggled to himself. Eddie laughed, too.

"We should be friends," Richie stated frankly.

"Yeah, we should."

"Promise to be my friend, Eds?" Richie asked, and held out his pinkie with the hand that wasn't clutching his ice pack.

Eddie smiled. "Promise." And their pinkies locked, sealing their deal.

From that day on, Eddie kept tissues and disinfectant wipes, as well as his asthma inhaler (which he originally kept in his pocket) in a bright colored fanny pack he found in the back of his mother's closet. He thought it was necessary, something he needed in order to be best friends with the Richie Tozier.


End file.
